Beginnings
by Evil Overlady
Summary: Prequel to A Visitor in the Night... How Yayoi and Shido met. My own version. :
1. Prologue

Beginnings

_A/N:_ NightWalker: Midnight Detective belongs to Kiyori Sasano, Ryota Yamaguchi, and the folks at U.S. Manga Corps. No copyright infringement intended. My second NightWalker fic (It's official. I'm hooked). I was wondering how Shido, Yayoi, and Riho all met, so I came up with my own version, a prequel, you might say, to the series. ;) However, I'm ignoring Volume 2 all together and Episode 9. (Inspired by the Special Unit 2 Pilot opening... I like Yayoi...)

Summary: Prequel to A Visitor in the Night and the series...

_Moonlight drifting on the waves...  
I'll swim alone in the dark ocean.  
I'll run away alone in the dark sky if I can meet you..._  
.com/mistress_nightwalker/

**Beginnings**  
Evil Overlady

~ Prologue ~

Young Yayoi Matsunaga leaned over her open bedroom window, chin resting on her knuckles, violet eyes staring up at the moon from beneath flowing red hair.

The bedroom door creaked open. "Yayoi?..." her mother's voice came curiously. The woman sighed and entered. "Yayoi-chan... You should be asleep. It's well past midnight..."

"I'm not tired," the girl replied, shifting her weight ever so slightly.

Mrs. Matsunaga came and sat down on the bed beside her. "Yayoi... You needn't worry about the Night Breed... We're in a neighborhood full of NOS agents and their families. Nothing's going to happen to you... You should rest."

Yayoi slowly shifted her eyes. "What about the vampires, Mother? They can look and act just like regular people..."

The woman watched her daughter with sad grey eyes. "Yayoi... There's... something you don't know..."

Yayoi's dark eyes looked at her with renewed concern. "Mother...?"

The older Matsunaga ran delicate fingers along the curve of Yayoi's cheek. "Don't worry about the vampires, dear... You're special." The woman stood, smiled tightly at her. "Now, get some sleep. The doctors would like to run some more tests in the morning."

Yayoi grunted. "More tests? I feel like a pin cushion..."

Mrs. Matsunaga watched her. "When you are my age, my daughter, you will understand..." She turned and left, closing the door lightly behind her.

Yayoi watched the door for a good while, then lowered her eyes.

* * *

Sirens filled the mid-day air. Fire engines, police patrol cars, and an ambulance choked up the street of a suburban neighborhood, surrounding a white house.

A young brunette girl, dressed in a yellow school uniform with a red bow slightly undone in her hair sat obediently on a cot while paramedics poked at her for injuries.

Behind the police barricade she could see the black body bags of her parents being loaded into another truck.

Her blue eyes welled with tears and she buried her face in her hands.

* * *

Tatsuhiko Shido watched the scene from behind a pair of blue-shaded sunglasses, long lavender hair ruffling only slightly in a breeze with his tan trench coat. "Another Night Breed attack... Damn it..."

Something wriggled in his hair and a small female voice piped in his ear. "But this time there was a survivor, that teenage girl over there."

Shido slowly turned his head. "We should keep an eye on her." His voice held an air of suspicion.

"We?" the voice repeated. "How did _I_ suddenly get elected babysitter?"

"It's just for a little while, Guni," he replied innocently.

"Hmph... Little while..."

"Excuse me." A woman in a yellow jacket, skirt, and high heels brushed by them, deep-red hair caught in the midday breeze.

One of the police officers holding the barricade moved to intercept her.

She held up her ID. "Detective Yayoi Matsunaga," she identified herself.

Shido let his shades slide down his nose and let out a drawn out whistle.

A tiny blond-haired, green-skinned head poked out from his hair. "Hey. Don't get any funny ideas, lover boy- wha!"

He faded into the crowd with a ruffle of scarf.

* * *

"Detective Yayoi Matsunaga," Yayoi repeated to the school girl, holding out her hand peaceably. "Miss Yamazaki... I know it's difficult to be asked this but... Do you have someplace to stay tonight?"

Slowly, the brunette shook her head, eyes lowered, looking like they were about to fill with tears again.

Yayoi sighed and looked to the detective beside her who shook his head.

Yayoi turned to the girl. "You can stay at my place..."

"Detective..." he hissed.

"What safer place for a Night Breed survivor than in the home of a member of the NOS?"

Unbenounced to Matsunaga, Shido had found cover beside the ambulance, listening in on their conversation. "NOS...?" he repeated quietly, rubbing a knuckle under his chin in thought.

The girl looked up. "I... I would like to stay with Miss Matsunaga..." Soft-blue eyes turned the other detective's way. "If that's all right..."

"Call me Yayoi, and, yes-" She looked deliberately at her coworker. "-That _shouldn't_ be a problem..."

The other detective swallowed his words.

"Riho," the girl said, holding up her hand.

"Riho," Detective Matsunaga repeated. "Pleased to meet you."

Shido's golden eyes briefly became slits, and he vanished once more.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~


	2. Chapter 1

_A/N:_ NightWalker: Midnight Detective belongs to Kiyori Sasano, Ryota Yamaguchi, and the folks at U.S. Manga Corps. No copyright infringement intended.

**Beginnings**  
Evil Overlady

~ Chapter 1 ~

Dark clouds rolled in before sunset and the rain began to fall, lightly at first, then it became a downpour, leaving streams on the windows of Yayoi's dark apartment.

_"Keep an eye on her,"_ Shido had said. _"I'll be around..."_

The fairy-like creature's green bat wings stuck to the wet windows. Long tangled blonde hair wrapped her slender naked body too snug for comfort. Guni made a mental note to comb it out later...

Fortunately for her, one window had been left open a crack to let in the warm air of earlier. The city spirit squeezed in her little form, careful not to bend her wings too far and inched her way along the windowsill on the other side. There was a bookshelf nearby, and she dove for it just as footsteps stopped on the other side of the main apartment door.

The door lock clicked and the woman detective Shido and she saw earlier opened the door, spilling light into the room, flicked on a light switch, and led the way in. "Make yourself comfortable. I'll find us something for dinner."

The girl followed, still in her yellow school uniform, a suitcase in her hands with a folded red umbrella hanging off its handle. The girl set the bag and umbrella down by the door.

Guni shook her head sadly. The poor girl was just on her way home from school, and then this... The police wouldn't officially admit it was a Night Breed, but Guni and Shido were sure of it...

* * *

The girl, Riho, had taken a seat by the window, staring gloomily into the rain when Yayoi emerged from the kitchen again with two plates of sandwiches. She set them on the coffee table by the two tall glasses of milk she'd put there earlier. Neither were touched, Yayoi noticed.

Lips tight, Yayoi lay out the plates.

"They come in the night, don't they..."

Yayoi looked up, caught a flash of her younger self before red flowing hair was replaced by a brown pony tail in red ribbon. Yayoi shuddered inwardly. "Who?"

The girl knew exactly who... or rather _what_ killed her parents... "Monsters," the girl said. "Like the one that took over my dad and killed my mom." Blue eyes were dangerously serious. "They're real. ...Aren't they."

Yayoi swallowed. "Come and eat. It'll do you good."

"Yayoi. I have to know."

Yayoi met her eyes. "They are real, as real as you and I... But I'll protect you, Riho. You have my word."

The girl watched her, reading her, then she lowered her eyes and came over and sat on the couch.

Yayoi waited.

The girl took a breath and bent over to take her first bite.

The telephone rang from the kitchen.

Yayoi took a sip of her own milk and quietly excused herself.

The phone rang a second time before Yayoi picked up the receiver. "Matsunaga here."

"Detective," a gruffy man's voice answered.

"Chief Inspector!" Yayoi straightened.

"You have some explaining to do, Matsunaga. Hoshino tells me you've invited the girl survivor into your _home_. She could be a Night Breed, Yayoi!"

"All the more reason to keep her close," she answered quietly. "I don't think she is, sir. She's just a kid..."

"Even so... She should be at Central under tight security, not in your home."

"Chief, I know what I'm doing," Yayoi stated firmly. "She's a lonely kid who just lost her parents. The last thing she needs is to be surrounded by a bunch of steel-jawed super soldiers in the middle of some compound. Just give me twenty-four hours to nail the thing who did this to her."

There was a long quiet pause from his end before he sighed. "Twenty-four hours, Matsunaga... not a minute more."

Yayoi closed her eyes with relief. "Thank you, Chief Inspector."

Slowly, she returned the white phone to its cradle and landed heavily against the kitchen counter. _Where am I going to find any leads in less than twenty-four hours...?_

* * *

Dr. Mako Tano adjusted the overhead light on one of the bodies recovered from the Yamazaki home, scrawling something on her clipboard.

When she looked up again, she gasped.

A lavender-haired man in a tan trench coat stepped into the light. "I need some information, Doctor," he said softly.

* * *

Yayoi rapped on the door to the morgue and walked in.

"That's about all I can tell you," came a woman's voice.

"I do appreciate it, Dr. Tano," a man's voice answered.

Yayoi stepped into view. "_Excuse_ me. Who are _you_?" she demanded of the long-haired man with the thin ribbon in his hair.

He half-turned. "Detective Matsunaga." He held out a fair hand. "I'm Tatsuhiko Shido." He handed her his card.

She took it cautiously and read it. Purple eyes widened. "You're a private eye?"

He smiled and gestured at his clothes. "Can't you tell?"

She narrowed violet eyes and stuffed the card into her yellow jacket. "What's a P.I. want with a murder case?"

He shrugged innocently. "I'm a sucker for the unusual."

Yayoi raised an auburn brow. "I'll bet."

He stepped toward her. "How is young Yamazaki doing...?"

Yayoi fingered her gun. "You know about her...?"

* * *

Something ash-gray oozed from the mouth of the body of Mr. Yamazaki.

Dr. Tano turned curiously.

"I know what did this," the P.I. continued.

"Mr. Shido!" Mako screamed.

* * *

Shido turned. "Huh?"

The gray sludge grew.

He shoved the coroner aside. "Get back!"

It solidified into something roughly man-shaped with glowing red eyes. Along its thin arms where human hair would grow were pencil-thick sharp spikes.

Shido brought his hand up to bite his finger but he was just a millisecond too slow and the Breed with one swing of its arm knocked Shido into the coroner and both crashed into another examining table.

* * *

Yayoi yanked out her gun. "Freeze!"

A distorted mouth bent into something resembling a smile. "You first..." it hissed.

"No!" Shido yelled. Red projectiles connected with the Breed's back.

The Breed let out an ear-piercing shriek, liquefied again, and shrank away.

Yayoi watched with wide eyes, only consciously remembering to breathe.

Shido ran past her. "It's getting away!" He threw red droplets its way again but they missed and the sludge drained away into a grate. "Damn it!" he cursed.

Yayoi gasped with realization. "Riho!"

~ * ~ * ~ * ~


	3. Chapter 2

_A/N:_ NightWalker: Midnight Detective belongs to Kiyori Sasano, Ryota Yamaguchi, and the folks at U.S. Manga Corps. No copyright infringement intended.

**Beginnings**  
Evil Overlady

~ Chapter 2 ~

Riho Yamazaki walked over to the apartment window, pressing her hand against the cool glass while the rain came down in sheets on the other side. "Mom... Dad..." The tears trickled down her cheeks.

Something fluttered and there was a tiny, "Oof..."

_Huh?_ Riho turned her head to the nearby bookcase and took a step toward it when something glass broke in the kitchen.

The bookcase forgotten, Riho went straight for the kitchen, peeking around the corner.

A big gray slimy something looked down at her. "You've caused me an awful lot of trouble, little girl..." it hissed.

Riho stared, flashing back to the events earlier that day...

Her mother was lying on the living room floor in a crimson puddle by the couch. Her father was in the kitchen destroying things, only it wasn't her father. _"Too old! This body's past its prime! I need someone..."_ Red glowing eyes had fixated on her when she'd entered. _"...younger."_

She'd screamed when the gray thing came out of her father and enveloped her to take possession. She'd uncapped the bottle of fruit juice she'd had in her hand and ran out the door....

_Fruit juice..._ Riho's blue eyes widened. _Water!_ They slid to the windows in the other room... _Rain..._

"Now, I have you," it finished.

She bolted, making a beeline for the coffee table and Miss Matsunaga's unfinished glass of milk. She threw it at the gray thing and flew out the front door.

The thing shrieked.

* * *

Guni poked her head out from behind a thick book and gasped as the Breed grabbed the door to follow.

Guni launched. "Not so fast!" she yelled. "Hi-yaaaa!" She blasted it with her energy shield.

The gray thing reached up and grabbed the little sprite. "I'm electric, you fool!" it hissed and with that poured several volts into her tiny body.

She cried out in pain and blacked out.

* * *

Riho ran as fast as her legs would carry her, heart pounding in her chest. She took the stairs down and heard the exit door she came through slam open again above her.

Racing down the flights she slammed through the ground level door, hearing the thing getting closer to her as she ran down the hall.

Finally, she ran into the glass front door of the building and into the rain. Freedom at last!

Lightning split the sky.

The thing shrieked behind her, and she turned.

The creepy monster huddled just inside the front door, glaring coolly at her.

She exhaled a sigh of relief and then dared to laugh.

A truck horn blared in her ears, and Riho shielded her eyes with her arms as the eight-wheeler screeched to a halt before running her over.

She risked a look over her arms.

"Hey!" the driver yelled out his window. "You're in the middle of the road, lady!"

She looked at him pleadingly. "Oh, please, sir. I need a ride. Someone's after me."

The driver blinked surprise and sudden fatherly concern. "C'mon, get in."

She dipped her head gratefully.

* * *

Yayoi wove her expensive cherry-red car through traffic, knuckles white on the steering wheel. "We better not be too late..." she muttered.

Mr. Shido only looked out the passenger side window.

Yayoi eyed him. "What _was_ that stuff you threw at that thing?"

Shido wouldn't meet her eyes. "There are some questions better left unanswered, Detective Matsunaga."

"And just how is it that you know my name?"

Shido sighed. "I heard you tell it to one of the uniforms at the scene of the crime."

"You were at-?" She let the question slide. "Why do I bother?"

He smiled slightly. "How long have you been working these cases, Detective?"

"A lot longer than you."

His smile widened. "I wouldn't be so sure..." he teased.

Yayoi narrowed her eyes. "When I find Riho and make sure she's all right, you have a lot of explaining to do, Mister..."

Shido just shrugged.

They reached the apartment. Yayoi pulled over and parked. She got out, gun drawn but tucked under her jacket. Shido followed, noticeably _un_armed.

"Why don't you carry a gun?" Yayoi wondered.

"There are plenty of other ways to kill people," was all he said.

Yayoi shook her head in disbelief. She opened the front door of the apartment building and walked in.

In the corner, a pair of eyes glowed red.

"Detective!" Shido pushed her forward as gray spikes launched, nailing him to the wall. His blood went everywhere.

"Shido!" Yayoi cried in alarm.

Outside in the rain, a white and black colored cat mewed curiously.

Grey shot out of the darkness and into the frightened feline, turning it black, eyes bleeding.

Yayoi let off a couple of rounds, and the animal took off into traffic.

She followed, firing away with her silver-jacketed bullets.

The creature jumped into the back of an old pickup and was gone.

_It got here before us... Oh, Riho..._ Failure weighing on her, she put the gun away. Then, she remembered the wounded P.I.

She rushed back.

Weakly, the lavender-haired man reached up and pulled out one of the spikes.

"Shido!" Yayoi rushed to his side. "Hold on. I'll call an ambulance." She pulled out her cell phone.

A bloody hand clamped over it. "No..." his voice came, strained. "Don't..." He coughed. "It's better this way..."

"How can you _say_ that?" she snapped angrily, tears streaking her face.

"I've paid for my sins..." He lowered his eyes. "I can never go back to the way I was before... when I was human..."

She gripped his hand. "What the hell are you babbling about...?" She waited for his answer. "Look at me!" She lifted his chin and gasped, sliding back away.

Yellow slit eyes met her. He shuddered and lay his free hand along another spike.

"You're..." Yayoi's mouth was dry. She dropped her phone. "You're... a..."

"One of them," he answered for her. "A creature of the dark, the very thing you and your organization fight against."

"No..."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~


	4. Chapter 3

_A/N:_ NightWalker: Midnight Detective belongs to Kiyori Sasano, Ryota Yamaguchi, and the folks at U.S. Manga Corps. No copyright infringement intended.

**Beginnings**  
Evil Overlady

~ Chapter 3 ~

_"What about the vampires, Mother? They can look and act just like regular people..."_

_"Mr. Shido!"_ the coroner had screamed.

_"Get back!"_ he'd yelled and the mysterious red droplets hit the Breed before it could harm Yayoi....

_"Don't worry about the vampires, dear..."_ Her mother's kind face drifted into her mind's eye. _"You're special."_

"Just let me die, Detective... Let me die as I should have two hundred years ago..."

Yayoi shook off her daze. "Two hundred years?"

__

"There are some questions better left unanswered, Detective Matsunaga."

The slits faded and his head fell back limply.

"Shido!" She wrapped her arms around him.

Lightning flashed outside and Yayoi saw herself as the young girl again, staring out the window afraid of- and at the same time one with- the night.

Tears caught in her throat. "I can't let you die." She took hold of one of the spikes and pulled it free. "I _won't_." She pulled out another and another until he was at last free of the wall and his limp body fell into her arms.

She leaned him back against the wall and pulled something from her pocket. "I don't know what sort of twisted game you're playing here, Mr. Shido." She unfolded the pocket knife, the blade catching what little light came into the room. "But you saved my life and the life of that coroner... And I don't like be indebted to _anyone_!"

She took a breath and ran the blade along the palm of her hand. Pain and crimson throbbed, and she pressed her hand to his lips. "Drink," she said softly.

He didn't respond.

"Drink, damn you!" With her free hand, she stabbed the wall beside his head with her stained knife.

Slowly, his eyelids lifted to show frightened yellow eyes, the eyes of a child.

"That's right," she said encouragingly as if he were a child.

"Detective..."

"I'm not asking you, Tatsuhiko."

He managed a weak smile. "Shido..." he said.

She returned the smile sadly. "Yayoi."

His fingers grasped her offered hand, holding it steady. The pain in her hand began to lessen. But so did her strength.

She couldn't remember feeling so... peaceful, walking on clouds of the finest cotton. She drifted into his arms and lost consciousness.

* * *

Yayoi slowly came to.

She was lying in her bed, her blankets tucked in around her.

Her hand ached. She started to think it was all just some bad dream, but she pulled out her hand and found it wrapped in clean bandages.

__

It wasn't a dream...

"That was a pretty brave thing you did," a small female voice said from her bed stand.

Yayoi adjusted her angle to get a look at the owner of that voice.

A little green girl about the size of a small bat with green bat wings sat on her clock radio, blonde hair frizzled and sticking out at odd angles.

"Who are you?" Yayoi asked.

"Guni," the girl replied. "Shido's friend."

"What happened to your hair?" Yayoi asked, trying to cope with the unusual little creature.

"Got a little too close to an electrifying Breed-"

Yayoi pushed back the covers and sat up.

"-Hey! You know, you should be resting. You lost a lot of-"

"I'll be fine," Yayoi dismissed. "Where is Shido?"

Mutely, the green girl jabbed her thumb in the direction of the living room.

"Thanks." Yayoi slipped into her high heels and stood. The girl flew into her hair, giving the detective a bit of a start, but she forced herself to relax.

"You are one strange human, you know that?"

Yayoi exhaled. "So I am told." She made her way to the living room and found Shido resting on the couch, a blanket over himself as well.

Yayoi took the love seat across from him and sat quietly.

"You should be in bed," came his voice, startling her. Then, he cracked open a golden eye. It was back to normal.

"H-how do you do that?" Yayoi asked, trying not to sound so shaky.

He smiled briefly. "Seriously, though... You should be resting."

"I'm not tired," she lied, summoning what little strength she had left. "Besides, we still have to find Riho."

The vampire inhaled and sighed. "How do you know she's not a Breed?"

Guni chipped in. "The girl's got a lot of spunk but she's definitely still human."

Yayoi glanced at the green girl and returned her gaze to Shido. "Will you help me?"

He adjusted himself into a more comfortable position to address her. "I don't exactly rank high in the NOS department."

"How did you know I work for the-?"

"Eavesdropped," Shido answered before she could finish.

Little Guni gripped her ear. "He does that a lot." Then, she added. "I think he likes you."

Shido's eyes narrowed. "Guni..."

Out of Yayoi's peripheral vision the bat-winged girl shrugged.

_Remarkable hearing..._ Yayoi mentally noted. "Look, I don't care what the NOS thinks-"

Shido crossed his arms. "Clearly. ...I don't think they would've approved of your taking the girl into your home. Frankly, neither would I, in their position..."

Yayoi tossed her reddish hair, exasperated, earning a squeak from Guni. "Are you with _them_ or are you with me?"

Shido smiled teasingly. "Is that an invitation?"

"A proposition," Yayoi clarified, leaning back into the cushions of her seat. "It doesn't matter to me that you're a vampire."

Shido arched a lavender brow. "Really?"

Yayoi shivered under his stare. "Really," she said.

"And why is that?"

__

"You're special..."

Yayoi shook herself out of her daze. "That's not important right now. Riho's out there somewhere, and she's in danger. Now, are you going to help me or not?"

Gold eyes drifted to the bag and umbrella still sitting by the door. "Frightened teenage girl. Can't go to the police. She knows they wouldn't know how to handle a Breed..." His gaze returned to Yayoi. "I'd start with the mall."

Yayoi blinked surprise then relaxed. "Thank you."

* * *

The rain lessened to the mist when the semi creaked to a halt outside the main entrance to the local mall. "You sure, miss? Wouldn't you feel safer at the police station?"

_No,_ she thought. "I'll be all right," Riho said instead. "I don't think he'll bother me with all these people around." _-At least, I hope not..._

Riho smiled and held out her hand. "I really do appreciate the lift and all. If there's any way I can repay the favor, call me."

He shook her hand gently. "Will do. You take care now, little missy, you hear?"

"I will. Bye!" She got out and stopped on the sidewalk to wave.

The truck exhaled, whistled, and rumbled off again.

Further down the sidewalk a bony black cat was watching her with glowing red eyes. Drool oozed from its sharp teeth.

Riho gasped and ran.

The cat took off in pursuit.

All of the sudden, a man in a trench coat appeared right in front of her.

"Aah!" she screamed.

"Riho!" He held her arms. "It's okay. I'm friends with Yayoi. I'm here to protect you."

The cat stopped and hissed. "You should be dead..." came the monster's voice.

Riho eased into the man's arms. "What's it talking about...?" she stuttered.

"Never mind him," the lavender-haired man said, easing her aside. "Get inside."

"But- what about you?"

"I'll be fine," he said, one hand hidden in his trench coat as if reaching for a weapon. "Go. Yayoi will be with you shortly."

Riho hesitated.

He smiled kindly at her. "Please."

Riho nodded and bolted.

* * *

Shido faced the Night Breed. "Now, then... It's time we finished this."

The possessed animal hissed. "Agreed..." It launched.

Shido bit his finger, and his blood came forth and formed a sword. He slashed with it.

The cat screeched and just barely twisted aside in time. The animal landed and the grey ooze drove it apart as the Breed rose to its full height.

The girl behind him gasped.

__

Oh, no! Can she see the sword?

"Look out!" Riho cried.

A Glock reported, loading several rounds into the Breed's head.

It screeched and melted into a puddle.

Shido melted his blood sword right on top of it before it could get away.

Both went up in steam.

"Yayoi!" the girl gasped with joy.

Shido turned. Yayoi's gun was still smoking. "_Nice_," Shido commended, giving Yayoi a thumb up.

"Silver-jacketed," Yayoi answered as the teenage girl jumped into her arms.

"Oh, Yayoi... I was so worried..." Riho turned tear-glossed eyes Shido's way. "Is it over?"

"Yes, Riho.." he said gently. "It's over."

Guni poked her head out from Yayoi's hair and pouted, unseen by Riho.

_Poor girl..._ Shido thought, looking at Riho. _Where does she go from here..._

~ * ~ * ~ * ~


	5. Epilogue

_A/N:_ NightWalker: Midnight Detective belongs to Kiyori Sasano, Ryota Yamaguchi, and the folks at U.S. Manga Corps. No copyright infringement intended.

**Beginnings**  
Evil Overlady

~ Epilogue ~

Riho was sprawled comfortably on the couch in Mr. Shido's office when Yayoi walked in. Yayoi slipped the piece of scrap paper with his directions into her jacket pocket and took a look around. "Nice place... You live here?"

Shido tilted up the top hat that was shading his eyes. "Can you think of a better place?"

Riho sat up eagerly. "So... Can I stay?"

Yayoi looked at Shido.

Shido cleared his throat. "Well, Riho. You see... Yayoi's got a bit of tight schedule. She doesn't really have time to look after a fifteen-year-old..."

Riho's red bow began to droop.

"But," Shido continued. "I could use an office assistant. My business is finally starting to pick up and-"

Riho perked up and looked excitedly at Yayoi. "Oh, can I?"

"You can't let it get in the way of your school work," Yayoi warned.

Riho sighed. "Aw... School?"

"An education's very important, Riho," Shido interjected. "More than you know..."

Riho sighed again.

Yayoi tightened her lips. "Well... I better get back to work." She turned.

"Don't be a stranger now," Shido called.

Yayoi eyed him.

He rocked in his office chair.

Yayoi smiled. "Never to you, Shido."

He blinked and Yayoi and Guni both eyed him.

Yayoi giggled. "I'll see you around." Yayoi waved and closed the office door behind her.

As a conversation started up on the other side, Yayoi paused against the door, pondering the days events. _I used to think the world was divided between the humans and the Night Breed, but even the night sky is dotted with far off suns. Shido is one of these suns, one of the dark standing for the light while I walk the shadows of human society, fighting the dark they do not see..._

_The End_


End file.
